


no stranger to surprise

by frangipanejauregui



Series: five gays in a band (ot5 pairings) [4]
Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Other, Real Friends, caminah, platonic caminah, walz and china
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 14:43:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13413471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frangipanejauregui/pseuds/frangipanejauregui
Summary: "i stay up talking to the moon."or, the one where dinah listens to camila's new song.based on 'real friends' by camila cabello





	no stranger to surprise

Dinah Jane Hansen reclined on the bed in the hotel room that she and Lauren were sharing in this particular city, gazing out the window with a touch of broodiness. Lauren, Ally, and Normani were out, exploring the streets of Miami and had wanted Dinah to go with them, but she had really needed some time alone. 

It was nearing a date that the other 3 girls didn’t seem to remember or want to remember, but Dinah hadn’t forgotten. At least, not yet. It was less than 10 days to the date that Camila had left the group. Twitter was buzzing, and Dinah scrolled idly through the OT5 stans and Camilizers alternately sniping at each other or the 5 of them and wishing Camila and the other girls warm, happy 2018s.

She was the only one of Fifth Harmony that was still following Camila. She would go to her private message inbox and sit staring at the blinking cursor for hours, trying to find the right words to say. She wanted her back, more than anything; more than success, fame, money, or anything in between.

Dinah wasn’t really paying attention to what she was looking at until a Tweet caught her eye. She shuffled deeper into the blankets and clicked to make it larger.

 **camila ✓** @Camila_Cabello: secret's out, you can preorder my debut album now and get 2 songs, never be the same and real friends... love you so much

Often times, the girls would listen to the radio in the car between shows. Dinah knew that Havana was hugely popular, and while every person in the country knew the lyrics, Dinah didn’t. Whenever it came on, the girls would just stare at each other awkwardly until one of them changed the station. None of them wanted to acknowledge the fact that all of their songs put together hadn’t gotten as much play as Havana, and that Camila was most likely the Beyonce to Fifth Harmony’s Destiny’s Child.

 But Dinah had always wanted to hear some of Camila’s music. She wouldn’t have been a good friend if she didn’t. She laughed aloud at the word ‘friend’; could she even be considered that anymore? Even though she had been the only girl in the group to listen to IKWYDLS when it dropped, and supported whatever Camila wanted to do, she had been tossed aside.

She gave into the urge and clicked the link to the first song, Real Friends, which was an ironic name considering Dinah’s previous train of thought.

The song was actually amazing. Dinah heard one measure and was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of pride, swelling up in her like a sob. That was her _girl_ , her baby, her best friend; that was her Chancho. The sound of the lyrics were mellifluous and warm, sweet and raspy in the way only Camila could sing, but they carried a certain fond sadness. Dinah thought the word might be nostalgia.

But the words themselves? The words tore Dinah in half. It was all about how Camila was looking for real friends, that everyone she had ever loved had let her down. That made Dinah suddenly angry, angrier than she’d been in a very long time. She had been with Camila since the beginning, cheering her on, giving her support, and helping her clumsy ass up when she fell down (mostly literally, sometimes figuratively). So Camila had _no_ right, none at all, to determine if Dinah was a real friend, and by God, Dinah was the realest you could get.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she had swiped over to the phone app and tapped a contact that hadn’t been touched in a very long time. She picked up on the second ring.

“Why are you calling me?” Was the answer. God, she sounded so _old._  Had it really only been a year? It felt like longer. Her voice was husky with exhaustion, but the good kind of tired, the kind that came after laughing with your friends until the sun broke the horizon or staying up for hours working on something you were really passionate about because you couldn’t bear to stop.

“You’re in Miami, Wa- um, right?” said Dinah awkwardly, drumming her fingers against the bedside table.

“Yeah,” Camila responded guardedly. “What’s it to you?” She was wary, but she sounded like she was about to cry.

“Meet me at Lauren’s secret place in 10 minutes.” Dinah hung up the phone before she could screw it up. She had no idea if she would see Camila there, but she had to go.

>>>

Lauren’s secret place was an abandoned, collapsed lifeguard tower on Haulover Beach. It had fallen over when Lauren was a kid and the city hadn’t bothered to haul it away. It had been there for nearly 16 years, and it had practically grown into a dune, creating a roomy, sandy cavern space that kept warm and could only be seen from the beach if you really knew what you were looking for. Lauren had shown it to them when they came to Miami for the first time on tour, and since then, every time the girls had come there, they had brought their sleeping bags out to the tower and had a sleepover on the beach. Dinah thought the management knew, but they didn’t bother them. It was their thing.

Since Camila had left, Fifth Harmony had been to Miami twice; three, including this time. No one had suggested going out to the beach for a sleepover. Not this visit either.

Dinah hopped out of the Uber and walked toward the beach. The smell of kettle corn, sunscreen and salt sent a flood of memories, like ocean tide, washing over her. As Dinah climbed over the dune, she swung around the leg of the abandoned stand and wormed in through a break in the wood. She had to stoop to fit in here now. Had she really grown that much? She wasn’t positive. She sure felt years older than the giggling teen that had spent many games of Truth or Dare in this hideaway.

In the dim light that found its way through the many holes in the lattice, Dinah could see a small brunette figure sitting cross-legged on one of the woven mats. The girl jumped to her feet hastily when she saw Dinah, dusting sand off of the back of her flowered wraparound. She swayed in place awkwardly, obviously not ready to make the first move, so Dinah stepped forward and enveloped her in a hug. She felt so warm and familiar in Dinah’s arms.

Camila stiffened almost imperceptibly, but then relaxed, put her arms around Dinah and tucked her head into her chest. Dinah felt Camila’s shoulders start shaking and realized that she was crying.

“I missed you… I missed you so much,” Camila whispered. Dinah almost couldn’t hear her over the crashing of waves. 

“I did too,” Dinah responded, too overcome with emotion to come up with a more meaningful response. To Camila, though, it seemed to do the trick, and she let out a loud sob.

Dinah pulled back and cupped her face in her hands. “You have bangs now.”

Camila stared at her in shock, then broke into laughter, eyes still glimmering with unshed tears. “That’s what you notice.”

“Yeah, you just look different. Really different,” Dinah said. “It’s cute, though.” Camila smiled shyly, looking down at her feet. “Wanna get lunch?”

“I’d love to, China,” said Camila. Dinah gasped happily at the use of her old nickname.

“Let’s go, then,” said Dinah. “I’m starting to get cramped in here.”


End file.
